


Hidden

by DancingHare



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingHare/pseuds/DancingHare
Summary: Zamarra and her students take shelter on a hidden planet.





	Hidden

The fading afternoon sunlight cast a golden glow over the camp, a warm spring breeze ruffling the trees overhead. The soft grass tickled the bottoms of Zamarra’s feet as she ran after her brother. Malavar, older and taller, held an empty whiskey bottle and paused to let her catch up.

“Look, there’s some,” he said, and she followed where his finger was pointing to the little dancing specks of light. Except, as Malavar had explained, they were actually little insects. He proposed that if they caught some inside the bottle, they could bring it inside to keep their tent light enough after dark. It might take a lot of them, they were so small and the light so dim. But perhaps together, it would work. They flitted and zipped so quickly over the grass, no matter how quickly they ran, the bugs always darted away at the last moment.

They both flopped down on the sun-warmed grass, defeated. Maybe it was for the best, Zamarra reasoned. The bugs probably wouldn’t be very happy stuck inside a bottle. They belonged out here in the late spring evening, free and unburdened. Yet at the same time, she didn’t want her brother to be disappointed. He always sat near the opening of the tent while he was reading, waiting until the last possible sliver of light was gone. They weren’t allowed any holos, but Malavar found old paper books thrown out in the trash heap sometimes. Usually they were damaged, or pages were missing, but he read them avidly all the same.

Sometimes she could make things move, if she thought about it really hard. It was just a thing she did sometimes to amuse herself, but she hadn’t told anyone else. Likely they would just scold her for trying to play a trick. Could she also make something stop moving, as well? She watched one of the little light-bugs, focusing intently upon it. She had to be gentle, it was such a fragile little thing. Holding her breath, she willed it to stop moving — and it did, hovering perfectly in place just above the grass. Zamarra took the bottle from Malavar and scooped the bug inside, clapping her hand over the mouth. Her concentration broken, the insect began to move again, bumping against the glass walls of its cage.

“Zamarra, how–” Her brother’s face was wide with both awe and shock.

“I caught one for you!” she said proudly, holding the bottle up in front of him.

“But you — you made it stop moving.” Unlike her, he had some idea of what that meant. “We have to go tell Mama.”

Zamarra frowned faintly, watching the bug inside the bottle as she followed her brother back toward their tent. Why wasn’t he happy?

—

“Master Zamarra?” Thisiri, the little cathar girl, nudged Zamarra again. “Master Zamarra, are you all right?”

The twi’lek blinked, suddenly aware of her surroundings. “Yes,” said Zamarra, giving the girl a comforting smile. “I was just remembering a memory.”

“Was it a good memory, or a bad memory?” Thisiri asked, snuggling closer to her side.

“A bit of both, I think.”

They were within the shelter, built of intertwined branches from the dense surrounding jungle. With enough layers of leaves, it was enough to keep out the endless rains. Another layer of leaves kept the floor dry and mostly free of mud, but it was still no place for children. The planet on which they had hidden was uninhabited, which was much safer but it also meant no buildings or ruins of any kind. Zamarra fretted, but the children seemed to have adapted just fine. They took turns gathering sticks for the fire, fetching fresh branches and leaves for the shelter, and picking up fallen fruit from the ground. The two boys had even speared fish from the stream. Sometimes, the rain let up a little, and Zamarra would practice their lessons outside, otherwise they would stay within the cover of the shelter. She was thankful for their company, delighted to see their progress, but she still felt that she could do more for them. Was there somewhere else they would be safe? Possibly, but she could not take the risk of putting them in harm’s way, not after all they had already been through.

She wondered if Malavar worried about her, whether he even still lived at all. It seemed so unfair to finally find him again after all these years, only to be separated again. Was he seeking them? And if so, would the Empire follow? Every night, she watched the skies for anything unusual, but so far had seen nothing. There could be others looking for her too, though, others who might be able to help. Though he was mostly talk, Zamarra thought of the smuggler who’d been so eager to win her trust. Would he be able to help them now? It was something she had considered, but it was too risky to try to contact him. Besides, he could just as well be missing — or worse — as well. Though she tried to sense both Kif and her brother, she could not be certain whether they lived or not.


End file.
